[spero]

Since those who are on the fence about vaxes seem particularly afraid of this disease, maybe we should have a thread <b>specifically</b> for those who've experienced whooping cough first hand. Please share with us the age/s of those who were affected, whether or not they'd been vaxed, the severity of the disease, how you treated it, and what effects the treatment/s had.<br><br>
We should hear from everyone - those who used "traditional" methods like abx, and those who used alternative treatments like megadoses of Vit C, SA, etc.<br><br>
And then maybe we can have it archived?

 

[Emmeline II]

*DS-2yrs 3DTaP<br>
*Me-29yrs; 5mo pregnant; most recent vaxes '99.<br>
-Did not visit Dr<br>
-Treated only with tea, honey and garlic (wasn't using SA then).<br><br>
We had traveled from TX to NY in February for 20days to visit family. Two weeks later ds, at night, ds started with a couple rounds of dry coughing. It got worse and he had bouts of paroxysmal coughing 3-4 times a night; a couple of times during the day. His cough lasted about six weeks total.<br><br>
A couple of weeks after he got sick I got sick (before the cough I had a 24 GI tract virus and I think I caught strep from my niece who had back to back bouts all winter). I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat (odd that it woke me up); I also had a bit of a stuffy nose. 5 days later (after a return plane ride) it appeared that I had a cold; but after a week I wasn't better. After two weeks my cough was much worse. I would have attacks of a choking cough that lasts from 1 to 2 minutes. By the fourth week the attacks were often with vomiting, severe facial congestions and a feeling of suffocation. My abs HURT and I was having upper quadrant contractions. After four weeks my coughs were not as strong or frequent and gradually petered out over the next two weeks. My cough was actually worse during the day (talking help trigger it) and after I ate. It was odd to me at the time that the "gunk" was clear instead of green or yellow like every other cold that I had.<br><br>
When I was in college I had walking pneumonia and would deliberately cough up gunk. With the more recent cough I had almost no control over it. The WC was a completely different experience.<br><br>
...and there will be no more vaxing in my home.

 

[De-lovely]

<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lurk.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lurk">:

 

[lyttlewon]

Please share with us the age/s of those who were affected, <span style="color:#0000FF;">Marah Jade was 2 years when she got pertussis</span><br>
whether or not they'd been vaxed, <span style="color:#0000FF;">She recieved two rounds of DaTP at 2 and 4 months.</span><br>
the severity of the disease, <span style="color:#0000FF;">It was a pretty bad cough. Scared me a couple of times just because I had never seen it before. She would stop breathing for a couple of seconds. Never had to be hospitalized or anything.</span><br>
how you treated it, <span style="color:#0000FF;">I gave her ABX <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/duck.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Duck">: and they gave me cough syrup with codine. I gave her the cough syrup maybe twice. I switched doctors after that and the new doctor got so pissed I gave her codine. She lectured me and told me to never do it again.</span><br>
and what effects the treatment/s had. <span style="color:#0000FF;">The ABX didn't do anything from what I could see. The cough still lasted 100 days or so and she had tussive episodes on the subsequent colds afterwards.</span>

 

[Awaken]

subbing. thanks for this thread. pertussis makes me really nervous.

 

[Emmeline II]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>lyttlewon</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/6768263"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">and what effects the treatment/s had. <span style="color:#0000FF;">The ABX didn't do anything from what I could see.</span></div>
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That's because they're not to help her, but to keep her from infecting others.

 

[tanyalynn]

subbing as well<br><br>
I want to know what to expect... I assume it will visit us someday.<br><br>
Good idea skellbelle! Thanks.

 

[Merilin]

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<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>skellbelle</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/6767576"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Please share with us the age/s of those who were affected,</div>
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I had it myself 3 times at ages 3, 5 and 10, my sister had it with 2, my brother with 6months.<br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">whether or not they'd been vaxed</td>
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During that time, vaxing pertussis was not suggested/required, so we only had the Tda shots, and I had also had a smallpox vax.<br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">the severity of the disease, how you treated it, and what effects the treatment/s had.</td>
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I don't remember the first time I had it, but the second and third it was very bad, I spent 2 months in the hospital fight pneumonia and ear infection. I was vomiting, coughing, had problems getting enough oxygen (I was in an oxygen tent) had an IV; it was hell. I was treated with abx and special diet. My sister did not have as much trouble, she was suffering quiet a long time as well, vomiting etc, but never was in the hospital, she was treated with abx and diet as well. My little brother did not have the usual symptoms, but had bad apnoe-attacks, so he spent a 10 weeks in the hospital to monitor his breathing, sometime in the ICU. He was treated with abx and an IV as well.<br><br>
I am not sure, of the effects of the treatment, maybe it would have been much worse, with out the abx, or the special diet; it is hard to tell.<br><br>
All I know is, that I will vax my kids, both my brother and I almost died from it, it just was very scary to everyone. Although I have to admit, that the doctors were quiet surprised, that I "menaged" to have pertussis three times.

 

[Aquafina]

Thanks for the thread girls<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/innocent.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shy"> We all know WC scares the ibbys out of me,but I think its getting better having all you great ladys to talk to,and hearing about your times with WC<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/redface.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Embarrassment"><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/loveeyes.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Loveeyes">:

 

[mamabearsoblessed]

subbing <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lurk.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lurk">:

 

[iluvmybabies]

subbing-A little paranoid about getting it! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"> It will be nice to hear others experiences!

 

[Annikate]

This is an interesting thread. Can't wait to read others' replies.<br><br>
I am quite sure dd got this after her first vaccination even though she was never officially diagnosed w/it. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> We stopped vaxing her at 6 months so she had 2 dose of it.) <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/mecry.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="crying"><br><br>
She whooped and coughed (and sometimes threw up) but she had significant reflux so I didn't connect the things until later.<br><br>
She did this for many many weeks. Maybe even 2 months (from around 2-4 months of age or so.). I did not take her to the ped because we were experimenting with her reflux and had her on too many meds at that time as it was.<br><br>
I did not know about SA then either. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad">

 

[AmandasMom]

Maybe the old timers here can remember her name, but she was from NZ and was amazing with vaccine info, and at one time they had all of her threads archived. One thread was about pertussis, and how to help your child through it step by step. it really helped me be more relaxed about it because the disease scares me. she told step by step how to hold your baby to get them to clear the mucus from their lungs, and other things to do. old timers, what was her name? she had several children, all had pertussis. i feel horrible for forgetting her name though I will never forget her, she was amazing. (around 2001-2003 or so time period.).

 

[Deborah]

She is still here, but now she has a different name!<br><br>
Something like Momtezuma T...<br><br>
but we usually call her MT

 

[AmandasMom]

!!! shows how much I pay attention! what was her old name? it's driving me crazy! I'm so happy she's still around sharing her knowledge.. I remember when she left, was a sad day.

 

[gr160]

<a href="http://www.home-remedies.info/home-remedies/whooping-cough.htm" target="_blank">http://www.home-remedies.info/home-r...ping-cough.htm</a><br><br>
This website has lots of remedies for pertussis. I think I may have had it last winter/spring. I was pregnant so I couldn't get an x-ray confirmation for bronchitis (the dr's diagnosis) and no tests were run, just a physical exam.<br><br>
I finally got rid of it after almost 3 months by using fresh turmeric. I used about three finger sizes pieces, peeled and grated them, soaked it in about a cup of water for about a minute and gulped it doen. THE NEXT DAY I felt 100% better after months of misery. As I said, I don't have a medical confirmation that it WAS pertussis, but the link I gave does recommend it.

 

[Peppermint]

Heidi <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/heartbeat.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="heartbeat"> Great idea.<br><br>
I don't have "first hand experience" as *I* never had it, but- last Fall my 2 ds's and dh had it.<br><br>
My then 4 year old ds, who was fully vaxed for his age, and my then 20 month ds, who had 3 out of 4 shots, got it the worst, although Dh had a good case too.<br><br>
At first we didn't know what it was, and my Dr. diagnosed "allergies" in my 4 year old, and gave us an allergy med to try, which, of course, did nothing. When my younger ds caught the "allergies" I knew we were dealing with something more. When I found that cold air and shower did not help, I started to realize it wasn't croup. As it went on, my younger ds started to vomit/cough up a gelatin-like whitish-clear yuck. I started reading here and found a link to the sound of pertussis and the symptoms, etc. I then realized that was definitely what we had (my husband and youngest got the "whoop" eventually).<br><br>
When I finally realized what it was, read how to treat it with SA, and actually bought the SA at the Natural Foods store, things improved in only a couple of days.<br><br>
Unfortunately, I had spent many many weeks at that point stuffing cough syrups and such into my boys to try to allow them to sleep.<br><br>
I admit, the disease really was hard on us, but- if we had known about the SA and gotten a good diagnosis early on, I am certain it would've been quite manageable.<br><br>
There is not a snowball's chance in hell of me using that vaccine for future children, as I know first hand that it doesn't work, and my 3rd child did react to the vaccine (hence him having 3 out of 4).<br><br>
It's kind of like Rotavirus for me, those 3 were the worst things we have dealt with (I know I am Blessed in that way) medically with our kids, and if there were some magic way to ensure none of my other kids ever got those things, I would be thrilled. However, given that vaccines are not safe, IMO, and don't work IME, I will instead learn to treat things and know when to seek outside help.<br><br>
My point? Learn about how to use SA for pertussis, it really is as simple as that.<br><br>
ETA: my kids acted pretty "healthy" during the day, the worst of the disease was definitely at night.

 

[Spy]

I had it at about 29 years old, after full childhood vaccinations, which would have included 3 or 4 doses of pertussis (not sure exactly). It was pretty bad, lasted about 8 months and was not diagnosed until it was over, because, you know, 'it can't be pertussis if you ever touched the ever-protective sacred serum'. 3 or 4 courses of antiboitics (don't remember exactly as by the end of the 2nd course life was quite blurry) one following another, didn't do anything to the cough, but left me so weak and deficient that I developed a pneumonia complication. Stopped all abx, started devouring any possible vitamin I could get a hold of (rather chaotically, I should say, as I was completely ignorant at that point, just had cravings), slowly recovered.<br><br>
Ironically, my 7-year-old-at-the-time totally vaccine free son was in full contact the whole time and never coughed once. Neither did he get sick when there were two outbreaks at his school.<br><br>
Also, I do remember quite a number of similar coughs during my childhood but can't be sure it was pertussis, it was obviously not diagnosed as such. It is possible that it wasn't it, but it was common practice to treat colds with dairy milk where I come from, and I think I was somewhat sensitive to it, it always aggravated any cold bringing about 'that' cough, but it didn't last for months.

 

[lizzie]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>skellbelle</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/6767576"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Please share with us the age/s of those who were affected,</div>
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<span>Ds, age 3.25; dd, age 4.75; friend's dd, age 4.25, and other friend's ds, age 5.25</span><br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">whether or not they'd been vaxed</td>
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<span>Yes, all four were vaxed, though my ds and dd were not "up to date", and I think ds may have missed a dtap or two (thank goodness<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">) My friend's kids were totally vaxed and up to date with all vaxes.</span><br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">the severity of the disease, how you treated it, and what effects the treatment/s had.</td>
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<span>For my two, it wasn't that bad.. <b>annoying as all get out</b> but not that bad. Dd had it worst, interesting since she had more vaxes than my ds, and is older. She had a bad, dry, hacking cough. Kept her and us up at night. Ds had the same situation, but not quite as harsh. It lasted about five weeks for both of them. I wasn't the educated mama I am trying to be now, didn't know about SA or the danger of vaxes, and just kept giving them OTC expectorants and cough syrups.<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/duck.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Duck">: Tried to give her benadryl to help her sleep at night <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/duck.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Duck">: <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/duck.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Duck">: but it didn't work. Ds didn't have any trouble sleeping. Those seemed to help during the day, but not much at night. Never went to the doctor, but might have if I'd had one or insurance at the time. When it occurred to me to put a humidifier in their room, after the five weeks, it all but disappeared literally "over night".<br><br>
My friends' kids had a similarly mild experience, but one of the other mamas (MamaB, I'll call her) was DETERMINED to get some sort of diagnosis and kept taking her dd back to the doc until they did a "nasal wash" which she said gave them the positive diagnosis of pertussis. MamaB claimed (we're not friends any more, for totally unrelated reasons, but she seemed strangely obsessed with getting her dds "diagnosed" with ANYthing, no matter what she had to put them through for the diagnosis) that humidifiers and cough syrup were not helping her dd at all, and kept talking about how horribly sick dd was, but since we all had the same thing, we all got together regularly over the course of that month, and MamaB's dd didn't seem any worse off than my dc... running, jumping, playing as per usual, stopping regularly to tell anyone who would listen how "bad sick" she was. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/rolleyes.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="rolleyes"> . (The three of us (me, MamaB and MamaC) had got all four kids together, one was sick, and for the next month or so, they were all hacking away!!)<br><br>
The other girlfriend, MamaC, did eventually take her ds to the doc, and was given a codeine cough syrup for him, but it didn't help him much. She was told he had reactive airway disease, and given an inhaler in addition to everything else. Neither MamaC nor I could understand MamaB's drive to get the diagnosis, since it seemed to be more upsetting to her dd than the cough itself.<br><br>
I don't believe either friends' dc were given abx, but I could be wrong! It all ended about 5-6 weeks after it started, seemingly regardless of what any of the three of us had done to control/treat it, and I imagine the effects of the treatment were the standard liver toxicity that results from giving your kids pointless OTC drugs!! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"><br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/love.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="love"><br>
lizzie</span>

 

[Peony]

Our story is still ongoing, but I'll post what I can now, and do an update later on.<br><br><br>
DH was the first one with pertussis. He is 30, and was fully vaxed as a child. DH got a severe case of pertussis. He has had the cough for 2 months now and just stopped vomiting while coughing. He is still very limited to what he can do physically, just walking up a flight of stairs winds him, and will exhaust him for the rest of the day. He lost 10 lbs in one week when the cough started because he was vomiting so much from coughing so hard. He did receive ABX, he went to urgent care when DD2 was born because he didn't want to pass what he had on to her. It was dxed as bronchitis, but they happened to give him the same ABX used for pertussis. He has dealt with nausea and severe acid reflex during this, I'm assuming it's from the mucous because he never is able to cough it up.<br><br><br>
DD1 who is almost 4, has had it a month and a half at this point. She had her 2 month vaxs and nothing since. She also started out vomiting after coughing so DH took her to a pedi, she got a postive pertussis culture. DH gave her ABX, we were living apart at this point to try to keep DD2 from getting it. I sent SA with DH to give her, he really overdosed her, to the point of severe diarrhea. We had to completely stop dosing her with SA, any small amount after that made her anus really hurt, and she would just cry and cry. I still am unable to give her SA right now. The week that was was on it, we saw a huge decrease in her cough, then it came back after we stopped the SA. She still coughs very frequently, and gags like she is going to throw up, but she hasn't vomited in 2 weeks. She is able to play while she coughs. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngtongue.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Stick Out Tongue"> DD1 still doesn't sleep very well, she coughs alot at night in her sleep.<br><br>
I got it next. I'm 24 and was fully vaxed as a child. My pertussis was very mild. I had been on megadoses on SA for a couple days before I started coughing, unlike DH and DD1, i never got the cold before the cough, i went start into a severe cough. The bad cough only lasted a couple days, then went to a every once in a while cough. I lost my voice from coughing so hard. A WC cough is way different then any other cough, you have no control over it, it's this severe coughing spasm that literally would drop me to my knees, the entire time I'm thinking all I want to do is breathe, but you can't. My sides would just ache from coughing so hard.<br><br><br>
DD2 started coughing and sneezing once in a while when she was 3 weeks old, her cough got severe when she was 6 weeks old. She started throwing up about half her nursings, after several days of that, she stopped nursing all together. We ended up in the hospital this week for several days for her to get rehydrated with an IV. She came home on O2, her cough is still really nasty, i have several threads floating around MDC about her on-going treatment of it. Watching her cough is the worst thing I have ever seen, her tongue is hanging out of her mouth, her eyes are rolling back in her head, arms failing, struggling to breathe... it is a mom's nightmare.<br><br><br>
That being said I would not do anything differently, vaxs would not of prevented DD2 from getting it, she was too young for them anyway.<br><br><br><b>update</b><br>
It's about 3 months since DD2 got pertussis, and she is doing better now. It has gotten a lot better in the last couple weeks. We had to make another trip to the hospital for another IV. She is finally gaining weight, she weighs 10.5 lbs now at 3.5 months. It's been a long journey, but we'll get through this. She is still on O2, she isn't able to keep her O2 level up on her own yet without it, we keep hoping that she'll be off it soon.<br><br><br><b>another update</b><br>
DD2 is 6 months old now, she is still dependent on O2. After several consults, everyone has agreed that our location is the reason for that. We live at 7,500 ft, apparently lung damage in a newborn+the altitude is just too much for her. We are hoping that she will be off O2 in another month or so, barring any illnesses, if she gets so much as a cold then she'll be back on it. She is delayed developmentally, very low muscle tone, it's common in babies with chronic lung disease, which she does have. She still coughs and gags sometimes, it's just a residual cough which I expect to hang around for a while.<br><br>
I am doing perfectly fine, no issues what so ever. DD1 has snored ever since getting the pertussis and any congestion/cold brings back the nasty gagging/vomiting cough. DH is still having issues. He can't ride his bike, play racket ball anymore, just running up a flight of stairs leaves him struggling to breathe and coughing, very similar to asthma, and we are considering seeing if an inhaler would help him. He is active during the day at his job, and it frequently leaves him very winded, this is 6+ months after the pertussis.